Sarah Chayes served as a special adviser to then-Army General David Petraeus as he settled into his final Army assignment: running the war in Afghanistan. Over at Foreign Policy, she pens her recollection on how the relationship between the general and his biographer, fellow West Pointer Paula Broadwell, played out in the war zone as it blossomed into an affair, ending Petreaus’ CIA directorship last month. She does not paint a pretty picture:

I can name a dozen people who knew things did not look right between Petraeus and Broadwell at the international military headquarters in Kabul in the first half of 2011, when Broadwell was working on her biography of Petraeus. It almost didn’t matter what was actually going on behind the closed door of that office. The pair spent too many hours in there, too late at night, the public affairs officer sent away. It is difficult to describe how dramatically such behavior clashes with the rigorously professional demeanor expected in a military headquarters, especially a deployed one. And that summer, when they returned from Kabul, the charged vibe between the two remained on display in Washington.

She wonders why no one, including herself, ever confronted Petraeus over their suspicions that something was up.